Spain has more than 52,000 public charging points for electric vehicles, but only 2,080 allow you to charge the car in less than 15 minutes. Although there are various obstacles why a buyer does not want to opt for an electric car, the lack of quality infrastructure is one of the main reasons why the electric vehicle has not yet been standardized in Spain.
The problem in figures. According to the latest Anfac barometeronly 4% of the charging points available at the end of September reached 250 kW of power or more, the threshold necessary for ultra-fast charging. Castilla y León leads with 357 points of this type, followed by Andalusia (277) and Catalonia (268). The rest of the network is mainly made up of slow chargers: more than 36,000 points offer 22 kW or less, which implies waiting times of between 3 and 19 hours, depending on the model.
Why is it critical? The lack of ultra-fast recharging especially slows down long trips, where the experience should be close to that of a traditional refueling. Current electric cars already incorporate systems prepared for powers greater than 100 kW, and this capacity will increase with the new models. However, the infrastructure is not accompanying the evolution in vehicle batteries. Spain is situated like this below the European average in high power deployment, a key factor for individuals and companies to decide on electric.
Who drives the network. Two thirds of the ultra-fast stations (equal to or greater than 250 kW) come from projects of the car manufacturers themselves. Just like share From the CincoDías media, Anfac has been insisting for some time that electric mobility should not only be promoted by brands, but also by energy companies and the public sector.
An underused park. There is also a notable operational problem, since 14,643 charging points are installed but out of servicewhich represents 22% of the total. These chargers remain inactive due to breakdowns, lack of maintenance or because the installation companies have not yet obtained permits to connect to the electrical grid. This situation has remained this way for two quarters, with no signs of a significant improvement.
The delay in Spain. The penetration of the electrified vehicle reached 29.3% in the third quarter, an improvement of 3.9 points compared to the previous period, but still far from the 43.1% average in the European Union. The general director of Anfac, José López-Tafall, warns that “leading the bottom group in Europe cannot be enough” and that Spain must maintain the current rate of growth for years to recover the accumulated delay.
The road ahead. Although the charging network grows in absolute numbers (this year more than 13,000 points have been added), the challenge is to guarantee quality as well as quantity. However, from the employers they insist that the data is “very positive”, and that “the important efforts that companies are making to install public charging are little by little giving results.”
Cover image | Michael Fousert
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